U.S. Open: Sectional qualifying roundup

June 01, 2014

The U.S. Open will be played June 12-15 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club's No. 2 course. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The U.S. Open is the most democratic of golf's major championships. Approximately half the field is determined by sectional qualifying. The USGA conducts twelve qualifiers -- 10 in the United States, one in England and one in Japan. The international qualifiers were held Monday, May 26, while all 10 U.S. qualifiers are conducted June 2 throughout the country.

Sectional qualifiers are all 36 holes over one day, testing players' skill and endurance. Here's a look at who advanced through each qualifier. (Note: x-advanced in playoff; (a)-amateur; A1-first alternate; A2-second alternate)

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Three players -- Justin Leonard, Seung-Yul Noh and Justin Thomas -- shared medalist honors. Noh won earlier this year at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Leonard qualified for his 17th U.S. Open and his first since a T17 in 2010. Thomas, who will be making his U.S. Open debut, is seventh on the Web.com Tour money list.

Paul Casey's good play continued at U.S. Open qualifying. Casey has finished in the top 20 in four of his past five starts.

Bo Van Pelt qualified for his eighth U.S. Open. He has made the cut in six of seven U.S. Open starts, finishing a career-best T14 in 2011. Van Pelt has three consecutive top-30 finishes after a rough start to the season.

Pat Perez, No. 46 in the FedExCup, and No. 25 Will MacKenzie were among the players who failed to qualify. So did Michael Kim, the low amateur (T17) at last year's U.S. Open. Kim is in the midst of his first season on the Web.com Tour.

Hudson Swafford earned medalist honors by a single shot. Swafford, a PGA TOUR rookie, will join former Georgia teammates Russell Henley and Harris English at Pinehurst No. 2. Swafford is playing his second U.S. Open and first since 2010 at Pebble Beach, where he missed the cut. English, Henley and Swafford led Georgia to a second-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Championship.

J.B. Holmes, winner of this year's Wells Fargo Championship, finished in second place after shooting consecutive 67s. Holmes is No. 30 in the FedExCup. He is making his first U.S. Open appearance since 2009. Holmes has made the cut in 12 of 14 starts this season.

Two amateurs who play for Southeastern Conference schools -- Alabama's Robby Shelton and Vanderbilt's Hunter Stewart -- qualified for the U.S. Open. Shelton helped Alabama to the NCAA Championship while also winning the Phil Mickelson Award as the nation's top freshman.

David Toms qualified for his 18th U.S. Open. He has three top-10s, including a T4 in 2012 at the Olympic Club. Jeff Maggert qualified for his 16th U.S. Open and first since 2005. Maggert has seven top-10s in the U.S. Open, including third-place finishes in 2002 and 2004. The 50-year-old won earlier this year on the Champions Tour.

Brian Stuard ran away with medalist honors at the Springfield, Ohio, qualifier, playing his 36 holes in 11 under. Stuard is already having a solid year on the PGA TOUR; he ranks No. 29 in the FedExCup race.

Will Grimmer, a 17-year-old amateur, was next best at 5 under. Grimmer already has one incredible Pinehurst memory under his belt: He shot 59 at Pinehurst No. 1 during last year’s North and South Junior Amateur.

Among the notables that missed were Billy Mayfair, who has played in 14 U.S. Opens, and Blayne Barber, a former Walker Cupper, who won the Web.com Tour’s South Georgia Classic in May.

Web.com Tour player Daniel Berger easily took medalist honors at the Vero Beach, Fla., Sectional. Berger, 21, who is No. 11 on the Web.com Tour money list, is in his first year as a pro. For some background on Berger, who grew up picking the range at the popular TOUR pro hangout, The Dye Preserve in Jupiter, Fla., check out this piece by Sean Martin.

Former University of Florida player Andres Echavarria also made it through, while his younger brother Nicolas finished well outside the cutline after an opening-round 80. Seventeen-year-old amateur Sam Horsfield missed by a shot, while Curtis Thompson, the brother of TOUR player Nicholas Thompson and LPGA star Lexi Thompson, was also outside the cut line.

Chase Koepka, whose brother Brooks qualified for special temporary membership on the PGA TOUR this year and played his way into the U.S. Open through the England sectional, also missed.

Cory Whitsett, an amateur from Houston, won by five shots after posting consecutive 66s. Whitsett recently graduated from the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide won its second consecutive NCAA Championship last week. Whitsett is a former U.S. Junior Amateur champion.

PGA TOUR player Bobby Gates qualified for his second U.S. Open. He finished T40 at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

William Kropp, a former All-American at the University of Oklahoma, lost a playoff to Anthony Broussard for the final spot. Kropp is No. 4 on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Order of Merit after winning earlier this year.

Web.com Tour player Henrik Norlander was two shots better than the field in Roswell, Ga. The former teammate of PGA TOUR player Patrick Reed won two national championships at Augusta State. Norlander played on the PGA TOUR last year and is on the Web.com Tour this year.

Amateur Smylie Kaufman, who just graduated from LSU, got the only other spot at the qualifier.

Oliver Schneiderjans, who just lost the NCAA Championship individual title in a playoff, was never close, opening with 83.

PGA TOUR player Chad Collins claimed the top spot in Rockville, Md., with matching 69s. Collins topped fellow TOUR player and former Naval officer Billy Hurley III by three shots, while Donald Constable and Mason Nicholas also advanced.

TOUR player John Mallinger will be the first alternate, while Taylor Funk, the son of Fred Funk, was three shots back.

Patrick Cantlay, who finished 21st as an amateur at the 2011 U.S. Open, withdrew after an opening 78.

Jim Renner, who is currently No. 123 on the FedExCup points list, finished third.

One shot outside the cut line was Stanford’s Cameron Wilson, who just won the Division I individual NCAA championship. Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen finished two shots out of a playoff for the last advancing spot.

Jon Curran, a 2014 Web.com Tour winner and the roommate of Keegan Bradley, was 6 over.

Alex Cejka, No. 3 on the Web.com Tour money list, won by three shots. Cejka won the Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship presented by Claro earlier this season.

Maverick McNealy, who recently completed his freshman season at Stanford, finished third. McNealy was an honorable mention All-Pac-12 selection and named to the Pac-12's all-freshman team.

Kevin Sutherland, the 2002 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play, tied for fourth. Sutherland has played in nine U.S. Opens, making the cut six times. He finished 67th at last year's U.S. Open at Merion.

University of Illinois junior Brian Campbell, the Big Ten player of the year, grabbed the final qualifying spot.

Zac Blair, who ranks 17th on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica order of merit, won medalist honors by four shots. Blair turned pro earlier this year after playing college golf at BYU. His father, Jimmy, is a former Utah Open champion.

Cheng-Tsung Pan failed to qualify for his third U.S. Open as an amateur. Pan missed the cut in 2011 at Congressional and finished 45th last year at Merion.

Web.com Tour player Nick Taylor struggled to 76-78. Taylor was the low amateur (T-36) in 2009 after shooting a second-round 65, which matched the low U.S. Open round by an amateur.